Sugar sulfitation apparatus



Jilly 18, 1950 D. A. BERNALDES 2,515,690

SUGAR SULFITATION APPARATUS Filed Nov. 2, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l DIP) All? OHM/W400 A BER/YALDEJ VMW y 13, 1950' D. A. BERNALDES SUGAR SULFITATION APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 2, 1948 0001074001? A BER/VALUES Patented July 18, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUGAR SULFITATION APPARATUS Dominador A. Bernaldes, Negros Occidental, P. I.

Application November 2, 1948, Serial No. 57,985

1 Claim.

This invention relates to sugar manufacture, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus for generating sulphur dioxide gas and introducing the same into juice or syrup containing sugar and to an improved method of generating such gas and introducing it into sugar containing juice or syrup for producing a white, granulated sugar upon evaporation of the juice or syrup,

It is among the objects of the invention toprovide improvide apparatus for adding sulphur dioxide gas to sugar-containing juice or intermediate syrup which apparatus is effective to generate sulphur dioxide gas substantially at the rate at which the gas is used and to introduce such gas at a constant and uniform rate into a moving stream of sugar-containing liquid to accomplish an intimate mixture of the gas with the liquid and substantially complete solution of the gas in the liquid, is effective to adjust the quantity of gas supplied to the liquid to produce the desired acidity, may be incorporated into commercial sugar refining apparatus without requiring any substantial modification of such apparatus, is of simple, durable, and economical construction, is so constructed as to have little or no tendency to leak sulphur dioxide gas into the surrounding space, requires a much smaller space than commercial sulfitation apparatus now in use, and is substantially automatic in operation.

A further object resides in the provision of an improved sulfitation method for sugar containing liquid by which the sulphur dioxide gas is generated by energy derived almost entirely from the flow of a stream of sugar containing liquid in direct proportion to the rate of flow of such liquid, is introduced into the liquid at less than atmospheric pressure while the liquid is in motion, and is quickly compressed to or above atmospheric pressure to facilitate solution of the gas by the liquid, and wherein steam or compressed air is introduced into the liquid in extremely small amount only, if at all, to inject small supplementary quantities of sulphur dioxide gas to make minor adjustments of the acidity produced by the gas introduced by the flow of the liquid itself so that the liquid is not over-heated and none of its sugar content is hydrolized during the sulfitation process.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figurel is a diagrammatic elevational view of sugar sulfitation apparatus illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse cross-section of a sulphur combustion chamber constituting. an operative component of the device and taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse cross-section of the sulfitation tank or reservoir constituting an operative component of the device and is takensubstantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a transverse cross-section on an enlarged scale of a gas distributing device disposed in the bottom of the sulfitation tank and is taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

The sulfitation tank, generally indicated at H], may conveniently comprise an upright, cylindrical tank having a conical bottom I! supported upon a suitable base or stand t2. A sight gauge 13 is operatively connected to the tank and extends along one side thereof to indicate the depth of liquid in the tank.

Sugar-containing fluid, such as cane juice or intermediate syrup, is supplied to the tank through a conduit [4 having a right-angle bend L; from which the conduit extends into the top of the tank. An injector, generally indicated at I6, is disposed in the conduit between the bend l5 and the top of the tank and includes a nozzle ll centered in a casing [8 provided at one side with a feed inlet I9, a combining tube 20 and a delivery tube 2| connected with the tank inlet conduit section 22.

An outlet conduit section 23 extends downwardly from the apex of the conical bottom I I and is provided with a side connection to which one end of the outlet conduit 24 is connected. The outlet conduit 2 1 extends upwardly along one side of the tank and is provided at its upper end with an elbowfitting 25 in which is mounted a thermometer 2E and with a T fitting 21 from the lower side of which an outlet conduit section 28 extends to a supply tank, not illustrated. A gas release conduit 29 extends from the top of the tank In to the top of the T fitting 21 and is provided with a manually-operated Valve 30 so that any gas or air accumulating in the top of the sulfitation tank can be discharged through the tank outlet conduit.

The thermometer 26 is used to accurately control the temperature of the liquid in the sulfitation tank to prevent inversion of the sugar content by excessive temperatures, and a testing station is provided at some convenient location between the sulfitation'tank and the supply tank, or at the supply tank, for testing the acidity or pH quotient of the sugar-containing fluid in the sulfitation tank so that the sulfitation of the sugar-bearing fluid can be accurately controlled. A drain pipe 3| extends downwardly from the bottom of the outlet conduit section 23 and is provided with a manually-operated valve 32 so that the sulfitation tank can be drained, when necessary or desired.

A water-jacketed sulphur combustion chamber, generally indicated at 33, is provided adjacent the tank It! and may have a construction as particularly illustrated in Figure 2.

As illustrated, the combustion chamber 32 comprises an outer, open-top tank 33 of substantially U-shaped cross-section supported upon suitable legs 34 which are connected at their upper ends to the tank 33 and are connected intermediate their length by suitable cross-braces 35 which cross-braces support a shallow tray 36 which carries areserve supply of sulphur for the combustion chamber. A cylindrical chamber 31 is supported in the tank 33 centered relative thereto, to provide a water jacket space of substantially uniform thickness between the chamber 3'! and the tank 33.

The cylindrical chamber 37 contains a tray or grate 38 having a substantially flat bottom upon which the sulphur is burned. As illustrated in Figure 1, this tray extends for only a part of the length of the chamber 31, substantially one-half thereof, as illustrated, and a transverse baffle 39 is disposed in the chamber at the rear or innerend of the sulphur-burning tray, this baffle being somewhat smaller than the cross-sectional area of the chamber in order to provide a marginal space 40 through which the aseous products of combustion of sulphur in the tray 38 pass to the rearward portion 41 of the chamber.

A tubular air intake 42 extends through the top of the chamber 3'! and is substantially centered with respect to the tray 38. The upper end of this air intake is open to the atmosphere so that air for the combustion of sulphur is fed to the interior of chamber 31 substantially at atmospheric pressure. The end of the chamber opening to the tray compartment 43 is. provided with a door 44 which may be opened so that the supply of sulphur on the tray 38 can be replenished from the reserve supply of sulphur carried by the tray 36.

An outlet conduit 45 extends upwardly through the upper-side of chamber 3'! from the space 4| at the rear of the tray compartment and is connected at its upper-end to a water-cooled tubular condenser 43 which may be of conventional construction and which may comprise a jacket 4'! provided at its ends with tube-sheets 48 which receive the ends of spaced parallel tubes 49 through which the products of combustion of the combustion chamber 33 flow from the outlet conduit 45 to a filter, generally indicated at 50, at the top of the condenser 46.

Cooling water is supplied to the condenser 46 through a water pipe having a manually-operated valve 52 therein and overflow water from the condenser is led through a pipe 53 into the outer tank 33 of the water-jacketed combustion chamber and from this tank the over-flow water is'discharged through a water outlet pipe 54.

The filter 50 may conveniently have a jacket 55 which forms an upward continuation of the condenser jacket 41 and within which is provided afilter screen 56 and such other filtering material as may be found necessary or desirable. The filter jacket is provided with a top closure 51 from which a conduit 58 extends to the feed inlet IQ of the injector l6, and which includes a manuallyoperated valve 60 by means of which the rate of flow of combustion gases from the chamber 33 may be controlled.

With the above-described arrangement, when sugar-containing fluid is pumped through the conduit I4 into the sulfitation tank Ill passage of this fluid through the injector II; will induce a flow of sulphur dioxide gas from the sulphur combustion chamber 33 through the condenser 46 and filter 50. The gas will be drawn from the combustion chamber through the condenser and filter at substantially atmospheric pressure by reason of the sub-atmospheric pressure induced in the restricted passage of the injector 16 so that the gas will be added to the liquid at a pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure. As the combined liquid and gas pass through the restricted passage of the injector and flow through the delivery tube 2! the pressure will be raised to atmospheric pressure or above and a large portion of the sulphur dioxide gas will be dissolved in the liquid flowing through the sulfitation tank. Thus, the sulphur dioxide gas is added to the sugar-bearing liquid automatically, substantially at atmospheric pressure, and at a rate such as to give substantially the correct acidity or pH value to the sugar-bearing liquid after sulfitation thereof.

While the above-described apparatus may normally be relied upon to provide the proper sulfitation of the Su ar-bearing liquid, provision is made in the apparatus for making minor corrections by adding supplementary quantities of sulphur dioxide gas in the event the tests indicate that the acidity of the liquid is not exactly at the correct. value. The means for adding supplementary quantities of sulphur dioxide gas includes a distributor, generally indicated at 6|, mounted in the bottom of the tank If a conduit 62 extending into the tank to the distributor, an injector, generally indicated at E3 in the conduit 62 outside f the tank, a steam supply conduit 64 for the injector and a conduit 55 leading from the filter 50 to the feed inlet 650i the injector 63-.

The distributor 6! may comprise a multipleoutlet, hollow hub 61 secured to the inner-end of conduit 62' by an elbow fitting 53 and a plurality of perforated tubes fifi'extending outwardly from th hub 6 and s ce a ar at ub i l equal angular intervals. In the arrangement particularly illustrated, in Figure 3 there are four perforated tubes 69 spaced 90 apart and having perforations) in one side only of each tube, the perforations being in corresponding sides of the various tubes so that a whirling motion will be imparted to the liquid in tank It] by the discharge of gas and steam from the perforations "Til. The injector G3 is similar in construction to the injector IE, but is smaller in size. The steam conduit 64 leads into the injector nozzle H and is provided with a manually-operated valve .72 by means of which the supply of steam can be controlled, and a pressure gauge 13 is interposed between the valve l2 and the injector E33 so that the operator of the apparatus can instantly determine the pressure of the steam entering the injector 63. The gas conduit is also provided with a manually-.operated valve 14 by means of which the rate of flow of gas to the conduit 65 can be controlled.

With the above-described adjusting apparatus, if it is found that the main injector it does not supply an adequate quantity of sulphur dioxide gas to the sugar-containing liquid, a sup" plemental quantity of such gas may be added through the injector 63 and distributor 5E, The amount of gas so added, however, is preferably maintained at a minimum to accomplish the desired result with the consequence that only a small amount of steam or compressed air is added to the liquid in the sulfitation tank and the liquid is thus not over-heated and the sugar content is not unduly oxidized. Having made the proper adjustment of the various valves t0, i2, and 74, it is possible to make an entire run without further adjustment with the possible exception of adjusting the valve 52 to maintain j the steam pressure indicated by the gauge '33 at a substantially constant value. It'is thus possible with this simplified sulfitation apparatus for a single operator to control the entire sulfitation process, since the operator will normally be required to observe only the thermometer 2t and the steam pressure gauge 73. Because of the atmospheric pressure operation of the combustion chamber 33 the sulphur in the combustion tray 38 may be replenished at any time and it is not necessary to shut down any part of the apparatus in order to replenish the supply of Suiphur for combustion. The sulphur dioxide gas is supplied to the injectors in a cool, clean, and

dry condition and only a very small amount of excess air is supplied along with the sulphur dioxide gas. The excess air, 'undissolved sulphur dioxide gas and atmospheric nitrogen are immediately discharged from the sulfitation tank through the gas outlet conduit 20 and thus does not accumulate in the tank, so that the tank can be maintained substantially full of sugar-bearing liquid at all times, greatly facilitating dissolving the sulphur dioxide gas into the liquid at a uniform rate and providing a substantially uniform solution of gas and liquid. I

In addition to being highly simplified, the improved sulfitation apparatus is of light weight and occupies a small amount of space so that, if desired, it can be conveniently mounted upon the top of a conventional supply tank and does not require a separate room in the sugar refining plant.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms Without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claim are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

Sugar sulfitation apparatus comprising a sulfitation tank, a liquid inlet conduit leading into and a liquid outlet conduit leading out of said tank, an injector in said liquid inlet conduit, a gas generator having an inlet and an outlet, a conduit conecting said generator outlet with said injector, a gas distributor in said tank, a pressure fluid conduit connecting said distributor with a source of fluid under pressure, an injector in said pressure fluid conduit, a conduit connecting said gas generator outlet with said last-mentioned injector, and a control valve in said last-mentioned conduit.

DOMINADOR A. BERNAIDES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 98,285 Marsh Dec. 28, 1869 483,022 Slangerup Sept. 20, 1892 789,372 Maguin May 9, 1905 1,138,202 Erlwein May 4, 1915 1,152,458 Waggoner Sept. 7, 1915 1,172,133 Grevemberg Feb. 15, 1916 1,195,044 Lockwood Aug. 15, 1916 1,941,461 Bull Jan. 2, 1934 2,321,879 Valdez June 15, 1943 

